25 Apr 2012

When FSG snatched Liverpool away from Tom Hicks and George Gillett in 2010, they made all the right noises about being 'smart' in the transfer market, and promised that future transfer business would be 'efficient' and 'wise'. Well, it's now 2012, and nothing has really changed; under FSG, the club's transfer business is the complete opposite of 'smart and efficient', and Liverpool's long history of wasting money on the wrong players has continued.

Back in October 2010, John W Henry, Liverpool's principal owner, made it clear that he was not impressed with LFC's transfer record:

"We have to be more efficient. When we spend a dollar it has to be wisely. We cannot afford player contracts that do not make long-term sense. We have to be smart, bold, aggressive"

Liverpool's Manager at that time, Roy Hodgson, also underlined the fact that the club's transfer performance needed to improve:

"There are a lot of things here that the club has got to get right. We have got a lot more expensive failures on our list than good players that we have brought in for next to nothing. Free transfers don’t necessarily mean that you have got a bargain. My experience of them has been very mixed. You need to be sure that the player you get can do the job you want from him.”

The amount of money (historically) wasted by various LFC managers in the transfer market is quite staggering:

* Since 1990, Liverpool's gross spend on transfers is over 600m (Confirmed by official club accounts)

* The turnover of players during that period - especially over the last 6-8 years - has been massively high, and many of those players bought/sold have been sub-standard, and/or the wrong players for the club.

* Tens of millions of the club's money has been wasted on buying expensive flops, many of whom were clearly the wrong players to buy in the first place (Case in point: Aquilani - why buy someone with a long history of injuries; why bring him to the club when he was *still* injured?!).

Here is a list players I believe to be 'expensive failures' from the last 20 years. For me, an expensive failure is a player who costs the club money in transfer fees, salary etc but has no specific, measurable, consistent positive impact on the team, and/or did not improve the team in any beneficial way. (Some figures are approximate).

Factor in huge salaries, undeserved bonuses, bloated signing-on fees etc and the figure suddenly becomes much higher. And this list does not include the salaries/signing on fees wasted on ineffective free signings like Fabio Aurelio, Philipp Degen, Andrei Voronin and Joe Cole, OR the money spent on countless young players brought in and then shipped out in double quick time over the years.

It's not just about loss of money, it's about loss of utility to the team. As a result of wasting money on the wrong players, the benefit the club *could* have received from buying the *right players* was lost.

You can recoup all the money you like in player sales but that doesn't suddenly reverse transfer mistakes that were made in the first place; it doesn't wipe out the money ultimately LOST on transfers (like the £8m lost on Robbie Keane).

The club has been suffering from the knock-on effect of negligent transfer spending and shoddy squad-building for years, but when FSG took over, it seemed like the abject wastefulness in the transfer market would soon be over.

Alas, it's just become worse (!), which is disappointing considering Henry et al's obvious commitment to spending money wisely. After studying Liverpool's accounts and seeing the mismanagement of the club's transfer funds over the last 20 years, it seems incredible that FSG have fallen into the same trap, but in the cold light of day, the brutal reality is this:

* In the last 18 months, FSG has approved close to £130m worth of transfers.

What do Liverpool have to show for this outlay? One Carling Cup, and ongoing regression in the league.

I don't see how FSG's transfer spend has been either 'smart' or 'wise'; like the 20 years prior to the group's arrival, the club's performance in the transfer market has been negligent and wasteful. It's also no coincidence that 20 years of transfer market blunders coincides with the club's failure to win the league.

Given FSG's negligible experience of football, the 'leave it to the experts' approach is definitely understandable, but allowing the the manager, MD and Director of Football to basically run things their way has spectacularly failed, and a more effective approach is required next season, especially in the transfer market.

The sacking of Damien Comolli is a positive sign, and a step in the right direction; it shows that FSG are aware that they made a strategic mistake, and they're taking steps to improve things, which bodes well for the future.

Reminder: ANYONE who flouts the comment policy will be permanently banned. If you want to moan about me/the site, then go elsewhere. If you want to debate the issues in a civil manner, you're very welcome.

you really are a Manc. every day i come on this site and read you moaning.whether its the players, manager, owners or fans. nothing ever seems good enough. always looking for negatives. do us all a favour, support someone else.

I don't actually believe he is a Liverpool Fan, I have not seen one positive story come out the guys mouth about the club! Also what money did Hodgson spend under FSG (think you might want to check your facts, also look at the actual net spend it isn't much!

where is charlie adam on that list? DO NOT make excuses for keeping that useless,inept,overrated,over valued, over my dead body that he can be seriously called a 'professional' footballer........off it, for other reasons than you forgot. if that is the case,shame on you, he should be first on it. in fact, he isn't worthy of being on that list in such 'illustrious' company. he should be on his own......in a land,far,far away.

Henderson Was £16 Million and shows promise I remember you where front of the line when Liverpool fans wanted to hang Lucas but I don't see him on your list now because over time he has improved a lot all I am saying is Carroll and Henderson are still young and have a lot to learn just give them time for god sake to many Liverpool fans want instant success it doesn't work like that especially with young players I don't think Carroll will ever be a £35 million pound player but he never asked Liverpool to pay that much for him so just give him time to learn his game he has only just turned 23 for god sake but i believe Henderson will be one of England's top players in the next few years just give him time to learn

Jaimie - I don't understand this article or exactly what you are trying to say?

FSG were asked to put money on the table - they did thatThey also stated that they were not football experts so they employed so called experts to make the decisions - DC and KK with the subsequent release of DC

You state in the article title that FSG have continued the LFC decline insinuating that they are responsible for the mismanagement of LFC money. My question to you is what should FSG have done or more importantly what should they now do to ensure success with their player investments?

Just as well they bought the club for a meager £300 million. They got the bargain of the century and have so far not actually spent that much of their own money. Every club bidding to be more successful spends lots of money on different players, when you have a "brand" like LFC it is money well spent.

It would be nice to hear see positive news from you just occasionally. What about the FA cup final? ALso you dont present the facts properly - Gross spend is an irrelevant figure. what is the Net spend under FSG?

Finally i do not believe FSG have wasted their money on amyone other than Downing and potentially Adams.

They employed DC to control this. A fair appointment given his history. So for me they tried to control this as a partnership between DC and KK. This looks to have failed (assuming short term success was the goal) as you are pointing out so FSG have taken appropriate action. By the same token, it would be very easy to say that the transfer of Lucas was a short-term failure - but I think that we would all agree that after 2 years it was turned around.

In terms of FSG offering oversight into a trasfer market they openly admit to having no experience in - how do you expect this to come about?

When you have no knowledge on something in the investment world, you employ an expert. FSG did this with DC however it didn't work out. I cannot see how FSG are at fault for leaving football to what are believed to be the experts!

Employing Comolli was FSG's first mistake. You can't just take on a glorified scout and hope for the best. What did they know about him? Nothing before they bought Liverpool probably. I wouldn't be surprised if they appointed Comolli purely because he knew Billy Beane (!)

I agree that when you have no knowledge of something you employ an expert, but Comolli is not a football man; he has no real experience of the inner workings of football, and FSG should've taken heed of the negative things Arsene Wenger, Harry Redknapp and martin Jol have said about him.

FSG are the owners, so yes, they are ultimately at fault. Come one, 35m for Andy Carroll?! Even someone with no knowledge of football would've pointed out that spending that amount of money on a player with only half a season of top-flight experience was a ridiculous gamble.

It's that kind of oversight that's missing. FSG should've put the stoppers on that transfer, bu they probably listened to Dalglish and Comolli.

FSG signed off on the transfers. They didn't need to approve the Carroll transfer; they could've said 'hang about - this guy only has half a season of top flight experience; you're having a laugh, right?!'

y support liverpool we dont want u to ur the most negative person in the world wen we win bet it cuts u up bet u cry cos we've won an u cant tell us wat we did wrong ur a total buet an fuckin idiot if u run liverpool we wud b a total joke cos all u wud do is tell us wat was done wrong in hindsite is pointless u freak

HAHA you left off ADAM. he is the worst, most useless player we've had in a long time. he struts around like he's the last king of scotland and gives possession away every 15 minutes. you'll see just how bad he is if KD stays.

Well, to be fair, Downing and Carroll were both good players before they came to Liverpool, could you honestly have said that you wouldn't want them at Liverpool? True, Carroll was overpaid, but I think that's just bad business, not necessarily a bad transfer.

Also, since we're talking about bad transfers, why isn't Luis Suarez up there? Not that I have anything against him, but he cost 23 million, and so far hasn't scored the number of goals expected of a 20+ million player.

Not quite the case Jamie, when you appoint a manager of anykind you give them full responsibility. On the other hand when their decisions don't work you expect them to go away quietly. It's called delegation of responsibility.

adam was brought in to be a playmaker,using his ' magical ' left foot to create chances and open up sides. he was our new alonso, our new molby. he was bought for several million pounds. if you look at what he has actually done, it equates to not very much at all. his passing is diabolical. his best contribution is giving ridiculous free kicks away in dangerous positions. he IS a failure. it is only kd and his stubborn ways that kept him in the side. his penalty is still an embarrassment (and probably still travelling). so when you say 'relative terms',it doesn't really wash. the amount of assists he has made is awful, for what his intended purpose is supposed to be. i truly hope your blindness to these examples, is just a temporary lapse. HE IS AN EXPENSIVE FAILURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with you re Suarez's goals return, but I don't think he could be labelled an 'expensive failure'. Must do better in front of goal, but infinitely more effective than the likes of Carroll/Downing etc

The sacking of Commolli is one thing different from previous owners. It is obvious heads must roll when the team does not perform. It was Commolli's business to do the best deal to suit the club. But Commolli has been disaster from day one. Except for Bellamy all other transfer deals have been poor. Look at the joke players we have Charlie Adam - 7 million pounds, Henderson - 16 million pounds, Downing - 20 million pounds, Enrique - 7 million pounds. We could have saved all that amount of money by playing Robinson for Enrique, Eccelton for Downing, Jonjo for

Henderson and Spearing for Adam. At least the fans would have seen some honest youngsters working their hearts out for the team instead of all these primadonas. Everytime I look at Henderson it makes me shake my head in amasement. What exactly does this player bring to the club? What has Commolli and Kenny seen in this guy that prompted them to part with that amount of money. Liverpool could have bought three young players with better technical ability and who has one important ingrediant , which is known as balls between the legs.

Another thing, why Liverpool paid 35 million pound for a donkey who was injured is a mystery. Don't you think someone would be trying to negotiate and bring down the price especially when a player was injured and knowing that he was going to be on the treatment table for another three months. Further more without any preseason training another two months lost to get the player fit. Don't people learn from expensive mistakes like Aqualani? So here we have Commolli taking the rap for poor business deals.

Its a fairly well thought out article but like so many of your articles, comes across far too one side and agenda ridden.

FSG trusted Comolli/KD with a lot of money, they trusted in Comolli to be more efficient with the way money was spent. He wasn't and was sacked for failing. FSG will no doubt recognise that they have failed with this objective themselves, so yes, they've made a mistake in that sense they have also realised they've made a mistake and are hopefully putting together a "plan B" on how to get it right.

It seem's your just stating the obvious with a slant on it to turn against owners/KD.

You don't honestly believe that FSG just wrote the cheque and that was it? Have you ever tried to get an investor to spend money?

FSG employed Comolli to advise them on "football". They took his advice and backed their man. Unfortunately Andy Carroll was a gamble that hasn't paid off in the short term and Comolli has paid the ultimate price for it.

I believe that Comolli would have negotiated this based on an expected 20+ goals per season return. This being the case Comolli would have evaluated Carroll with a high residual value with him being so young. If we got half of what Comolli thought he had bought then the transfer wouldn't have been a bad net investment, and it still may not be!

Assuming he remains at Liverpool, he still has time to turn this around. We have to remember that full maturity is several years away for him

As for KK - I believe that transfers were sanctioned by KK and then it was up to Comolli to work with FSG on the negotiations.

Am I the only LFC fan with a biased opinion? I suppose every other fan out there - and on this thread - is totally objective?

I don't see your point; of course my articles are one-sided - why is that a revelation? I have no obligation to be impartial. If you want that, go the BBC website :-)

I'm a fan with an opinion, just like anyone else.

In this case, FSG went about things in a half-hearted manner - they imported the baseball management template into Anfield; appointed Billy Bean's mate Comolli to look for players; bowed down to fan pressure and appointed Dalglish, and then stayed across the other side of the Atlantic for 98% of the season. Is it any wonder things have gone wrong?

If you feel you're exempt from criticism you shouldn't be running a site like this,my friend. Also if you ask for respect you should be prepare to give it. Perhaps English isn't his first language and you're piss taking makes you er (gulp) a racist

too right. a rangers reject who nobody wanted until blackpool took a punt and even then were not overly convinced. he had a reasonable first half of the season,before reverting to norm and giving sh*ite awful performances. then guess what??? we sign him for several million pounds. the word was, that Manure wanted him. holloway must have paid taggart to leak that one to the gullible press! the only true gullible person was kd.

Jamie please ban me I keep accidentally clicking on the links to your site on 'newsnow' and if I'm banned then it wont matter any more, you are a cunt, twat, faggot, 'curly headed fuck', child molester, vile, blonde ambition tour, tool, please kill yourself and relieve this planet of your cunty negativity.

Cant' see how we can judge the owners yet, putting their hard earned cash into players all of an age where they can develop and progress into players. Some havent worked, some might work, some might take time.They could have done worse and saddled us with the debts such as Hicks and Gillett and Glazers at Utd.Sometimes in football, the bigger picture tells you that you have to spend Millions and millions to rebuild teams and changes in Managers only adds to this figure!!!Give the owners a bloody break. Can't believe some of the negative trot I read sometimes!! Even if we win the FA cup some obviously won't be pleased. Just senseless!!!

Kenny Dalglish's head will roll quite soon. The man will not know how to manage a team in Europe. Liverpool Football Club needs money from The Champions League - Kenny is just not the right man for the job.

Is it worth kk going upstairs in some capacity (this may cause a conflict if he is to be director of football I.E as is what this job actually is??) but some kind of figure head role. And look at getting pep in? All we all want is to have someone to come in play like the good old days Such as the pass and move the LFC way of life, if you want to call it total football or absolute football then so be it.the only other EPL team looking to get a manger in is Chelsea! Rumor has it that he may leave in the summer, is it not worth the punt? I know before jumps up says wtf ! I know he has spent cash and had messi and all that jazz! but lets not forget he was the youth team coach that saw most of the talent through the ranks at Barcelona, so basically give someone young the project to see through where others have failed. Apart from kk or pep I cannot see anyone else at the helm.

TBF, I used to recommend Downing and wish for his signing in talks with fellow LFC fans and friends for years. You could say that players like Carroll, Downing and Adam were very good players in their teams at the time when Dalglish and Comolli went to sign them, and that they were right to expect these players to perform at the same level. Although, neither Downing nor Carroll were players of 20 M. and 35 M. price tag, and there's also entirely different story of throwing 18(!) M. on player like Henderson, who was mediocre even at that time.

This is typical of the modern day know it all but really know nothing fan (and i use that word very loosely)!

How can we judge owners who have made the money available when asked over their 18 month tenure? This is quite laughable...lol

It's even worse than judging a manager (who is one of only 5 managers to ever actually win the Premier League) over an 15 month period.

It's even worse than judging young players, who have been at the club for less than a season!...

P.S. FSG are learning about the PL, English football and how things work here. For me theyve done an outstanding job. Would love to see how effective you'd be if you'd had the business acumen which would put you in a position to acquire a baseball franchise!

The unfortunate thing is business and success are sometimes a matter of trial and error.. not a lack of resources rather a lack of resourcefulness..u would expect a more thorough approach with such experience.. things havent swung our way.. half of these conversations wouldn't exist if we were higher up the table - and its LUCK that deserted us on those games where we had 25 shots, hit the post 5 times and walked away with 0 points..

King Kenny, Clarke etc IMO were the right move at that time.. Comoli's CV had some real highlights - bringing in the likes of Bale, Modric, Prince Boateng, Berbatov etc. I can see why he was bought in.. u can see in his interviews that he has a calm, calculated persona.. He made some dire mistakes and was the Pawn scapegoat in the game..

What makes a good player? I have always admired Ferguson in his transfer policy.. Number 1 criteria - MENTALITY

Henderson WILL come good - he has a natural engine, a eye for a pass. with more experience he will be more clever with his runs & play - perfect example is the rise of King Lucas

Carroll - needs to stop thinking of his pricetag & play like he's in a playground ie. with more freedom & just let go.. he got wat it takes regardless of the price.. British strikers with his stature & potential at his AGE are a rare commodity so GIVE him the CHANCE.. hes been playing his socks off recently.. & done well..

Enrique & Bellemy; absolute steals.. best bit of business in years

Downing & Adam; jury is still out, particularly Downing

wat players cud u pinpoint that wud shed blood sweat & tears to grind out the results? everyone wants to win - but wat about that extra fire? Kuyt & Spearing exemplify this.. who arent necessarily the flair players but they make the team better just by the mentality they play with..

Since losing our playmaker & tempo setter LFC have never been the same IMO. Alonso was Key and a snip at £10million

intelligent? they have employed an un sackable manager. FSGs first major decision was to employ a manager that the majority of LFC fans would be happy to see take us to the championship. They have handed the most crucial element of power over to nostalgic fans.

For PR reasons Kenny will only go once FSG finalise the script that pacifies our overly emotional fan base.

Agree with you jaimie,,but since we're not playing in the champions league,,the player we tried to sign have many things to ask,,including higher salary,,signing fees etc,, but i think buying eden hazard & leandro damiao at all cost next season would bring us back our pride

like your articles but bored of reading your opinions also find it hard to believe you are a fan so so so negative.who really is interested in your opinion i try not to read the last bit its normally shat

we spent money, we lost money.. the only "established" or dubbed "world class" players at the time that I can remember we bought were Suarez & Torres.. who else? Sure some have developed to be World Class i.e, Riena, possibly Skrtel.. The players we have now are part of the SQUAD.. we need to bring in players that will go straight into the FIRST TEAM.. What have Newcastle done that Liverpool havent? If we had Ben Arfa, Toite, Cisse & Ba.. we wudnt be in this position.. how did Newcastle see them & we didnt??.. we dont need a Director of football or headscout p we need Sherlock Holmes or a M15 spy..!!!!

I think if you were to ask the young players overall how their season went,I think they would say it was ok but not brilliant, now I am talking about the league position And the cups, although it is fantastic to have one won and possible a second, but the bread and butter is the league simple as.I think we tend to forget we are Liverpool football club and not some other club fighting for 5, 6, 7 or 8th position. Bringing these players has not moved us forward in any way, surly there any business there has to be accountability from the bottom right to the top or vise versa. We demand results as fans, we have waited a long time, we don’t owners making the right noises but also the right decisions, yes money has been spent but how many of these over priced players will play in the top four today? At the beginning of the season I bet we all thought that yes we have got some decent players here, and that will take us close to a champion’s league position only for us wonder when we will batter some team at home! Poor results have cost us now so far Dc has paid for it, now I am not saying change the owners but just some accountability.

i hate to say this because i supported Liverpool when they where winning titles for fun ...but i think its over....i think the reds will have a long period of being a top 10 side only ....our transfer policy is criminal and has been for some time ...we buy players for positions that are covered and then play them out of position and pay big bucks for the privilege...is almost funny how deggan and co have flleeced the club....

I agree that liverpool have wasted money but what we have to understand is that liverpool is not loaded and has not been able to offer champions league football for a couple of years so to be fair i was suprised we got surez in and kept reina and co. this year will see another year of missed signings as man city, chelsea and man utd pick up the first choices. this measn liverpool will have to see what they can get. forget the likes of cavani and world class stars as they are not coming nor is the world class manager to replace KD. the last time we offered the job out world wide we got an influx of interest, managers knocked us back and we got the first class candidate in hodgson!!

I think Riera wasn't too bad. In Benitez case he recouped most of the money. Also he made the club lots of money from CHL and he's thf best mngr we had since 1990. Replacing him with RH has to go down as the biggest mistake any football club will ever make.

Rafa had a much better appreciation of the value of a player.If Rafa was given mind boggling sums like the King was given Rafa would of bought europes finest prospects and nurtured them into world class players.Rafas record in doing this is only bettered by Wenger.Alonso,Agger,Reina,Torres,Mascherrano,Skertle,Crouch,Bellamy,Benayoun= all cost a combined £75m.The King had no appreciation of europes finest footballers,he went off one game when Newcastle beat us and Carroll scored and decided to break the british record on him.His simplistic formula was get someone to cross the ball for Carroll so he spent another £20m on failure Downing ,admittedly Downing had a great game against Oldham and Cardiff but that been about it.The only way out of this mess is for Rafa to return.

to be fair FSG did not snatch the club from H and G. Liverpool FC have been the most wasteful club in terms of transfers since souness days although to your list you should add Jimmy Carter Torben Picnic etc etc etc I would include Adams purely because you include glen johnson who has contributed more in assists and goals than Adams I dont agree johnson should be on the list. I am at a loss to understand the relevence of this other than to show FSG in a bad light which they dont deserve

agreed over comolli but when we signed carroll I was really excited I thoughtlike most fans it was a massive move in the right direction shame it didnt work out for player and club. But nobody spent 35m with the knowledge or hope that he would fail

Most of us probably watched last night's epic game and most of us are probably watching tonight's game which looks every bit as going to be a cracking game. Now I want you to think about these games, the players in them and the atmosphere surrounding these magnificent occasions and then ask yourself the following questions:

Are Liverpool going to be gracing this stage anytime soon?Can you really see Downing doing what Ronaldo has done tonight?Can you see Henderson being apart of a rear-guard action like Chelsea's players were?Would Carroll put in a performance like Drogba did last night?

The fact is, players come, players go. That is fact. The cold hard truth is, Dalglish's signings have been so poor and have regressed the club and team. Just half a decade ago, we were thundering past 3 of the 4 Champions League semi-finalists. We have hideously fallen behind these teams. Gillett and Hicks simply didn't put the money forward. If they did, we wouldn't be in this position.

Jaime mate your preaching to the choir , you'll never get rawkites to come on here and agree that KD and FSG's transfer policy has been nothing short of catastrophic - just look at how far the expectations of carroll have been lowered in order to keep saying he'll come good -

just managing to stay on his feet and win a few headers is now considered great form ( even before his 2 cup goals ) KD himself was amazed at how much better than expected Downing was doing so thats how far the bar has been lowered in order to protect Kenny .

thank God for another honest fan - its frightening the amount of fans I talk to online who refuse to discuss if KD's still the right man - a 'work in progress' is thier mantra and should FSG even try sacking him well I shudder at what some of our fans reaction would be.

I guess that like me you dare question the king so that means your not a real fan , maybe we are possesed by manc supporting entities :-))

I can understand the writers frustrsations when you look at the teams performances in the league this season. Many of us have seen Liverpool go from a top four team to a team finishing in an embarassing 8th place. Many of us are wondering what went wrong. It is obvious that some of the wrong players were purchased over the years since the clubs overall competitivess is on the decline. Money was definately wasted in the past and in recent years on the likes of Poulsen, Morientes, Charlie Adams etc. I don't think Liverpool FC has ever really replaced influential players like Xavi Alonso, Djbrill Cisse just to name a few. Kenny in my opinion bought a lot of players that wouldn't be starters in any of the other big three clubs like Chesea, Arsenal, and Man U. Carrol at 23 wouldn't be a starter in any of those clubs I just mentioned. It is time to buy more established players and less developing players Liverpool. I think we need players that can make more of an impact right away. We are in desperate need of goals

You have to be fair to FSG before concluding that they did on deliver on their key pledges. They openly admitted their minimal knowledge in football, hired Comoli and had to depend on him and Kenny for recruitment. So, they have to rely on these 2 fellas. Sure, as it turns out, there were mistakes made and I think they realized it by terminating Comoli.

Any sensible person would have to rely on others more knowledgeable than them in that field, in this case, football. As you know, most Americans are ignorant of football.

We should judge them from now on regarding players' transfers, now that they have been more immersed in English football. And if they still spend money on bad buys, only then can we truly pass judgement on them.

I have always believed that players recruitment should rest with the manager. So, a director of football, becomes a redundant position.

FSG knew nothing about 'soccer'. That's why they employed Comolli. It speaks volumes that they didn't sanction any transfers in January and then ditched Comolli. To me, this says they are addressing the 'problem'.FSG & Dalglish's transfer policy and impression of the players that came in will be exposed during this summer, when we will see whether any of their "flops" get listed/shipped out.Your list is a helluva lot shorter than the list I would have put out, by the way, starting with every player Souness signed except for Rob Jones,and including a few of Dalglish's last signings last time round, since you're quoting from 1990 - Rosenthal, Hysen & Speedie, for example.What everyone is failing to grasp here is that back in the 80s, we were the top club in European football. Now we are only just about the top club on Merseyside. We could pick and choose back the, now we can't. The vast majority of the players you are expecting the club to sign only see us as that club that fluked the CL 7 years back, unless they grew up on Merseyside, we are just a club that won a lot of stuff before they were born.Before Abramovich arrived, Chelsea were a crap club that spent the previous 30 years bouncing between the divisions. Man City the same. Both have had to offer outrageous contracts to enable them to sign the players they were after to get them in the top four. During the 70s and 80s it was the same for Man U. Real Madrid were a club that had won alot of stuff before I was born. Barcelona were just another of those crappy Spanish clubs.Would you want to play for Nottingham Forest? No? Well they won the league, the European Cup twice, and beat us in the League Cup Final in three years when I was 13.Fans LOVE the club. For players, it's the company that employs them and they want to work for the best club they can, for the most money.Don't expect to be signing the next Agueros, Messis and Ronaldos this summer.

You ask for reasoned argument, it would be nice if you did the same. There is way to much assumption and hyperbole in this thread.You are assuming that FSG never once said £35m are YOU sure, what are YOUR reasons for wanting this player at this price.They are business men first, hence they would have expected sound reasoning for the purchase of any asset. DC and KD would have had to present a convincing case, what ever model DC used pulled the wool over their eyes, and as the excuses ran out, FSG acted to remove half of the problem. To be fair I honestly believe that it is only two cup finals that have allowed KD to keep his job, and that may not last into next season.

A very very poor purchase, been hopeless for LFC. May have not made double figures in Transfer fees, but we were robbed there. I still undecided about whether Downing and Carroll are truly flops, I think Downing has had terrible luck which has affected his confidence, Carroll needs to spend more time in the box using his height and strength, instead of trying to come and get the ball. Both though I think can be good players for the club, but I would always put Spearing ahead of Adam, and both a long way behind Lucas.Maybe Adam and Kenny can share a taxi....

Some really good points made, agree with most, apart from Adam, I think the jury is now in on him. Shelvey and Spearing have showed more in less time than Adam, for me he was a purchase we didn't need. Agree that Henderson has potential, I think he and shelvey could be fighting it out for the Gerrard role in years to come. I have seen enough of Carroll to believe that he does have potential and we should not knee jerk him out of the club for the sake of it.Where I agree with Jaime K is on a comment that Suarez has been less than we hoped. I think alot of this has come from a siege mentality thanks to the issues this year, but he has not been the kind of support that the younger players around him have needed.

Jamie here were people who knew nothing about football FSG they got people who were supposedly experts in scouting in Dalglish and Comolli the latter more into the scouting.They put up the money and got the best advice they could i think FSG are blameless i am damn sure they were fooled by the ineptitude of these two.

It seems that the club has no transfer policy in place because they are always after low grade,average and rubbish players.A cursor look at the above list of players only shows that we are in a perpetual criss.

Can anyone with an access to the owners advised them the proper way to hire and fire coaches like Roman of Chelsea fc, he does not have time with failures like KD show the wayout.The other problem is the British supporters who follow the legend blindly until the fall into a pit look what happens to Wolves,Villa

Nice list but what about Istvan Kozma, Torben Piechnik, Julian Dicks, Dean Saunders, Nigel Clough, John Scales and Frank McGarvey. Plus 70% of this squad. And when I look at the rumours I hear names like Dembele and Moses. Jeez do we secretly have man U fans on the board?

The wonder of hindsight......... i bet chelsea wouldn't spend £50m on Torres now if they knew how he'd play. I bet Athletico Madrid would have made us pay more than the £20m (approx) that we did if they had the hindsight to see how well he played for us.

Carroll scored goals, Downing created. Henderson..... well, not sure. Adam created and scored goals. If you look at it like this, the signings were not a problem. What the problem is is they're not good enough for Liverpool.

Jamie, seriously, you talk about wasted cash, and a lot of what you say makes sense. However, if you actually think adam is a good player then you must be blind. Those type of players are suited only to bottom of the league sides where he can be a star man. he is the most frustrating of all of our buys, and the most risky to include. your opinion's here make a lot of sense, but i can't agree with you on that side of things. id rather have any of the other crap KD has bought play ahead of Adam.

agreed - if rafa had been given the pot that kk and dc had we'd be in a much better positon now - the english players would not be here with a few skillful spaniards in their places - unfortunately he was well gone

I think people like you need to look at the bigger picture, Suarez for me is more of an attacking midfielder than an out and out striker, there is much more to his game than that and we would have been shafted without him this season, same sort of comments went on for years about Lucas who I knew from day one was quality, now all but the most stubborn and those who do not understand the game see that he is one of the best in the business!

It isnt an exact science spending mony on transfer fees you quote a figure over 20years Man City and Chelsea spent that in 12 months and that is the difference to say that we have been able to stay in the hunt spending less than are main rivals with attendences at home half those of are rivals isnt failure Chelsea and Man City both spent time in the lower divisions before they come good so infact did United in modern times You are a left over from Hicks and Gillet you call yourself a fan but you wouldnt know the Liverpool Way if you live to be 100

You say the sacking of Comolli is a good thing (and I agree to a certain extent), but Comolli has come out and said he warned Kenny about buying British when there were better value-for-money players on the continent, yet Kenny decided to destroy our squad anyway.

Who's he gonna end up buying without someone warning him?! - Darren Bent for £20m lol

You all forget Kenny's first stint - during is last month, LFC went down hill faster than could be mentioned. Stop playing the blame game and just get on with the repairs. Some great names have been rumoured but nothing ever materialised. For example: David Villa. Can't players revert back to the old days when one needs to kick with the instep in order to be certain of direction, rather than concentrating on power. It is inexcusable for shots such as penalties going high above the post. Penalties are a mind game for both concerned. Fair enough if one of them chooses the wrong direction, but over the bar!!!!! Enough said. BTW, Skrtl has cost the club many games through his constant fouling. A foul costing the game should dismiss the player, albeit just for a couple of months.

you list is utter nonsense.-henderson was 13 mill with add ons-riera at 7 mill was superb for us for 2 years-pennant at 6.7 mill was also a dam good player who rafa stated he wishes he could have kept but for transfer funds making his sale a necessary-why is glen johnson on the list?!?!? consistant performer and always a threat in attack-gonzales at 1.5 was a steal!! hugley talented but work visa issues stopped his career with us-robbie keane was sold for 20 mill in installments and performance / appearance related bonuses - we sold him and recouped all of our money. 8 mill loss?!?!?!!? why are you making up figures? oh thats right, to fit ur agenda!